Registers for utility meters have typically used some form of decade counting device for recording units of consumption.
Vroom, U.S. Pat. No. 3,147,918, shows a counter mechanism with an external pinion design including a plurality of number wheels and external pinion gears. The number wheels are held on a shaft by flexible tongues.
Greenhow, U.S. Pat. No. 3,216,658, shows another external pinion design and another construction for holding the number wheels on the shaft. The number wheels have enlarged slots of different area than the cross-section of the drive shaft. Pins are utilized to connect the shaft to the number wheels.
Hermann, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,262,641, shows a complex central hub with cams that contact projections on the inside of the number wheels.
Harada, U.S. Pat. No. 3,137,444, Maschino, U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,564, Maschino, U.S. Pat. No. 4,841,130 and Glover, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,091,633 show odometers with internal double pinion gears having portions on opposite sides of a pinion carrier plate connected by a rotating pinion shaft. Inoue, U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,563, shows an internal pinion with long teeth alternating with shorter teeth.
There is still a need in the technical art for counter mechanisms that can be manufactured at lower cost while providing suitable operating characteristics. This need is particularly felt in the utility meter field where there is both expansion of international markets and increasing competition among manufacturers located in various countries in the world.